Bikepacking Bikes

Inspiration

What is Bikepacking?

Simply put, bikepacking is the synthesis of mountain biking and minimalist camping; it evokes the freedom of multi-day backcountry hiking, with the range and thrill of riding a mountain bike. Click the link below to find out how to start. Start Here

How to Bikepack.

Broadly speaking, there are three bikepacking genres to choose from – Multi-day Mountain Biking, Ultralight Race & Gravel, and Expedition & Dirt Touring. Click the link below to learn about each.
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Where to go.

As important as it is to have a reliable bike and pack as light as you can, choosing the right route is perhaps the key to your enjoyment. Visit this section to learn how to choose a route, and some insight into navigation.
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When & How Long?

The average bikepacking trip should be based around riding between 25-75 miles (40-120 km) per day, depending on the weight of your load, the difficulty of the terrain ...
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The Routes Map

We have ~100 routes on our worldwide bikepacking routes map. Cick the link to see them plotted or select from the links to the right to filter. View The Map

Classic Routes

There are some routes that are made classic by their sheer perfection, and others by races. View The Classics

By Length (days)

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We'd love to share your bikepacking stories and photography with the rest of the community. We welcome high quality contributions, including trip reports, videos, gear reviews, gear lists, recipes and of course, bikepacking routes from around the world.
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Couple Embarks on Trans-USA Bikepacking Odyssey

Is it possible to piece together an unpaved bikepacking route across the US, primarily on gravel and dirt? Apparently it is, and these two cyclists are on a mission to prove it…

How do you get across the country on mostly unpaved roads? You take the long way. The TAT, or Trans-America Trail, is a 5,000+ mile dirt and gravel route across the US, from Morehead City, NC to Port Orford, Oregon. The route was initially designed for dual-sport motorcycles and follows a hearty elevation profile that gains more than 300,000 feet of climbing. The TAT isn’t to be mistaken for the Adventure Cycling Association’s route of the same name, which is a mostly paved route that runs from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, VA.

On August 1st, Sarah and Tom Swallow set out from eastern NC to pioneer the TAT route via bicycle. The Swallows are the owners of Swallow Bicycle Works, a small bicycle shop located in the city of Loveland, in Southwest Ohio. The Swallows have completed several big bikepacking gravel grinders, including the Oregon Outback and the Ohio Buckeye Trail, but nothing of this caliber.

Tom and Sarah stumbled upon the route while exploring the twisty rhododendron-lined gravel roads of North Carolina and Tennessee. They immediately began researching the route and decided it could be the ultimate cross-country bikepacking quest. Throughout the next few months, the Swallows will be exploring the route while recording necessary information such as campgrounds, impassible sections, and necessary resupply points.

We believe that this route is equally ideal for bicycle travel, at least most of it, and will use it as our guide, while we cross the U.S. on our bicycles on as many dirt roads as possible. – The Swallows

I had the opportunity to ask the Swallows a few questions about their trip and here’s what they had to say:

How did you originally find out about the TAT?

We were about to go down to North Carolina to ride gravel roads with some friends and I was looking for a place we could stay. I visited the site for The Lodge at Tellico which listed a dual sport motorcycle route across the country as a ride near them. We had always wanted to cross the country by bicycle, and this seemed like the best option for us.

How long have you been preparing for the journey?

We decided we would do this ride 6-months ago. Most of the riding that we do is long distance on gravel roads. Over the past couple years we have picked up bikepacking, as an alternative to randonneuring style rides.

Prior to TAT, what’s the biggest off-road route you’ve ridden?

We followed the Buckeye Trail from Cincinnati to Lake Erie along the East side of the state. That was 650 miles, not so long compared to the TAT.

Which section(s) of the TAT are you most looking forward to?

The Smokey Mountains, Colorado, Utah, and all the unexpected.

Are you worried about any areas?

I’m interested in seeing the ratio between paved and gravel roads. Based on my research, there will be plenty of gravel linked up by paved sections. I’m skeptical of state routes in certain areas of the country. Water availability out West is also a concern of ours.

When are you expecting to complete the route?

Sometime in October.

The TAT isn’t a web of singletrack trails, it’s a route made up of dirt roads, gravel, jeep tracks, forest roads, abandoned railroad grades, and farm roads. Based on the bit intel that’s out there, generated by motorcyclists, there are rocky sections, technical dry creek beds, and tough sections of mud, sand, and snow. Tom and Sarah are tackling the TAT on 700c custom built bikes and 43mm Bruce Gordon Rock ‘n Road tires. Here’s a little more about their gear:

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This is so rad! I have wondered about doing something like this ever since I rode across the country without any maps (yay adventure!). I’ve always thought that surely there must be a predominantly dirt route between the coasts. Good on ya Tom and Sarah for giving it a go. Godspeed!

http://www.bikepacking.com/ bikepacking.com (Logan)

Agreed. I heard rumblings about the TAT several months ago and forgot about it until I heard about this epic ride!

mikeetheviking

Dang! This looks AWESOME!

Robert Grey

Just don’t know when I’m gonna find the time to do all these rides!

Harley Raylor

I’ve been reading this blog adventure from most current post backwards to this one. Love that she is riding an AWOL. My wife and I both have that bike and ridden it many miles over two seasons and love it. I’d really like to hear her review of the AWOL.

http://www.bikepacking.com/ BIKEPACKING.com (Logan)

Me too… I’ll see what we can put together.

Harley Raylor

Her review is awesome!

Rolf Steiner

To Sarah & Tom: I would like to know in retrospect if you had to do the ride all over again what trails/roads would you have avoided at all costs and what are alternate routes?